Bringing images to life…..
What is in a print?……..A LOT!!
Photos need to be printed. On walls, in albums, shown to your family and friends. They are designed to be seen. Not just stored on your hard drive, phone or USB. They are opportunities to not only capture a moment in time, but create a piece of art!
The difference between choosing a professional printing lab to using a generic printing service is enormous. It may not seem like a big difference at first, but in years to come the type of ink, whether pigment or dye based and the type of media and it’s properties will mean the difference between a quality image that was true to colour from day one and can still look as new over 30yrs later (some types of media over 70yrs), to one that doesn’t quite match what was on your screen originally. And worse still, has faded or discoloured over time.
You can take the most amazing images or make the investment in the most talented photographer to capture your memories, but that is only the first step of the process. If you then go ahead with low level printing, all that talent and hard work that you see on the screen will then be lost.
How did CD Fine Art Prints come about? Well, a long time ago…….just kidding……but seriously it evolved after years in the photography industry being the daughter of a man behind the lens. My fathers passion for photography developed that “bug” to create and capture for myself at a young age. This evolved through my life until I found myself in the situation where I needed to be a strong role model for my three young daughters. Someone who wasn’t going to just sit back and watch life pass her by, but actually go out and live it! I’d been brought up to work hard for what you wanted in life and I wanted to be able to provide my girls with opportunities. I was juggling three jobs at the time and raising the girls on my own when I was fortunate enough to be employed by not only an unbelievably creative woman but an incredible business entrepreneur and mentor. Kim at Lion Studios Picture Framing has encouraged and supported me the whole way through the journey and development of CD.
Working on the other side of photography (not the dark side, but we will call it the light side) for many years as a digital technician, I got to see art from a different perspective with my position at Lion Studios. Whilst restoring, reproducing and manipulating images, some things became very apparent in the photos from the past that I was working with. The thing I noticed most was that the damage caused to the images which were 100yrs old was minimal when they had been stored correctly. It was mainly through environmental influences. However, the damage and repairs needed to the images from the past few decades was astronomical. The damage in these more recent images which I was restoring (some as little as 5yrs old) was simply due to the poor quality of the prints that they had originally been produced as. The acid in the papers, their thin media and the dye based inks really did not stand the test of time. As my clients were investing in having these valuable memories of their families restored, I wanted to generate a print from the repaired file that, unlike the originals, would stand the test of time and possibly last generations!
This led me to take the leap and provide our local community with the opportunity to have Fine Art prints developed from reproductions of their artwork and photography. These are quality prints, not decorator posters. The time and effort put into making sure each individual image is produced to give the most accurate colours and tones is something I take pride in. Choosing the best type of media to represent the content of the image and bringing it to life is something I enjoy. And seeing the results come off the printer with depth and life always brings a smile.
So where to now? Starting a business in 2020 has provided all of us with many challenges thanks to Covid19. But there is nothing like a challenge to inspire you to work harder, learn new things and push the limits! My goals are to continue to produce amazing quality Fine Art prints, developing a strong relationship with local artists, photographers and enthusiasts. To help bring awareness of the benefits of pigment inks and premium quality archival papers. To continually learn and evolve as new products, technology and techniques become available. To continually repair and reproduce old images and documents wether they are from print, film or slide. To help enhance and process images for photographers and enthusiasts who need the production side of things taken care of. To grow and develop the Digital Illustration Artwork and Fine Art Photographic Range which is available through CD to order Australia Wide. To witness the joy of seeing clients receive their prints that are true to colour. And to help prevent the sadness I see too often in the faces of clients whose family memories have deteriorated due to using low quality printing. So with this enthusiastic list of goals ahead of me and a huge smile on my face, I look forward to bringing your images to life!
Sending Smiles,
Cathy
